If the contract does not specify the ruble, do not pay in rubles. This is what the European Commission is asking European companies that have contracts with Russian companies to supply gas in response to a request from Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept payments in Russian currency as a result of sanctions and asset freezes. Central Bank of Russia in EU countries.
European Commission spokesman Stefan de Kersmacker said on Monday about the ruble payment: “We have a very clear line on this, expressed with our G7 partners: contracts must be respected.”
According to the executive representative of the community, “97% of the contracts explicitly provide for payment in euros or dollars. Companies with these contracts should not agree to Russia’s demands. “We are analyzing Russia’s position on the payment in rubles and are in contact with the affected EU energy companies as well as the member states.”
De Kersmacker added: “The European Union will respond to this attempt by Russia to sideline our actions in a united way.”
A decree by President Vladimir Putin obliging Russian gas buyers to pay for supplies in rubles came into effect last Friday, when Russian gas giant Gazprom informed its customers about new mechanisms but has not yet closed the pipelines, Efe reports.
Gazprom complies with Russian law. “We have officially announced the new payment mechanisms in rubles,” the company said in a statement, adding that it “continues to export gas to consumers.”
The measure is aimed at countries that Russia calls “unfriendly”, including the US, Canada, the UK and Ukraine, among others, without forgetting all EU countries, many of which are not just regular buyers. Russian gas, but relies heavily on this supply.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the entry into force of the decree did not mean the immediate cessation of gas unless it was paid in rubles, because “the current supply is not paid now, but in the middle. Even in early April or May. And it’s up to Gazprom, he explained, to work with buyers to refine payment mechanisms, which, Putin said, would allow the West to deposit euros and dollars into Gazprombank that are not subject to Western sanctions. Converted into rubles, which would be collected by a gas giant.Russian.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is one of the main buyers of Russian gas, which accounts for 55% of its consumption, reiterated that Berlin will continue to pay for this fuel in euros and that it does not want to change the form of gas. pay.
Source: El Diario
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